In his first notebook of the spring season, Denny Dyroff highlights some of the SOL’s top performances at the PTFCA Indoor State Championships.
By DENNY DYROFF
Ichiban (番)is a word in the Japanese language that the members of Cheltenham High’s girls’ track and field team could accurately adopt as their motto. Translated, “Ichiban” means “Number One” or “The Best.”
If the Panthers used it, they would not be bragging. They simply would be stating a fact.
A few weeks ago, the Cheltenham girls captured the team title at the PTFCA Indoor State Championships -- taking the top spot with 58 points.
In the huge meet at Penn State University’s Horace Ashenfelter Indoor Track facility in State College, the Suburban One League accounted for four of the top five team finishers with North Penn second with 42, Pennsbury third with 32 and Pennridge fifth with 26. State College with 27 was the only school to break up the SOL’s stranglehold on the top places.
Cheltenham’s girls have become accustomed to returning from Happy Valley with the team championship trophy.
“This is the third year in a row that we’ve won indoor states,” said Cheltenham coach Kelly Jensen. “And, we finished runner-up the two years prior to that. We also won the outdoor state championship last year and placed second in two of the three years before that.”
The Panthers also fared extremely well at this year’s New Balance National Indoor Championships, which ran from March 11-13 in New York.
“Nationals is what we were pulling for,” said Jensen, referring to the highly competitive meet at the New Balance Track and Field Center at the Armory in New York.
In the national meet, Cheltenham won its heat in the 4x200-meter relay at 1:39.69 with the foursome of Alexis Crosby, Bria Barnes, Brielle Lewis and Chanel Brissett and finished seventh overall. Unfortunately for the Panthers, only the top six finishers in the prelims made it back to the finals.
“We just missed qualifying for the finals,” said Jensen. “We won the 4x200 at states with a 1:39.48, which was a new school record. We broke our old record that we set last year. We really care for the 4x200. We have the speed. We kind of pride ourselves on that.
“Alexis also ran the 400 at Nationals and Madison Langley-Walker did long and triple jump. She was happy with her triple jump but not with her long jump because she had a bit of an ankle sprain.”
At the state championships, Langley-Walker was first in long jump (18-4.75), second in triple jump (39-2) and second in the 60 hurdles (8.72) and Crosby was fifth in the 400 (56.46).
Not surprisingly, Brissett was the Panthers’ top performer -- at Nationals and at States. Competing in the 60-meter hurdles at Nationals, she finished second in her heat of the prelims at 8.26, third in her semifinal race at 8.24 and fifth in the finals at 8.23. At States, she was first in the 60 hurdles (8.25) and second in the 60 dash (7.48).
“I wasn’t really happy with my race in the finals at Nationals,” said Brissett, a senior. “I didn’t have a great start. The 4x200 -- I think it was pretty good. My teammates ran well. Unfortunately, we didn’t make finals.
“I was very happy with States. But, I think I could have done better in the 60. I didn’t have much time to recover from the hurdles. I had six races in two hours.”
Now, it’s on to the outdoor season for Brissett. It’s her final season with Cheltenham and she has already hit the ground running.
On March 31, Brissett was in Gainesville, Florida, to compete in the 100 hurdles at the Florida Relays at the University of Florida.
Brissett won her heat -- but there was no race. Any semblance of a race was gone by the third hurdle when Brissett already had built a 15-meter lead on the rest of the field. She posted a winning time of 13.09.
That time was the nation’s fastest time this year, Pennsylvania’s second-fastest all-time and in the Top 5 all-time nationally. It erased the previous meet record of 13.72 set by Shanita Moss of Pompano Beach (FL) in 2004.
The closest finisher to Brissett in the race was East Lake’s Kaitlyn Kirby at 15.32 and the second-fastest time in the trials was the 14.07 posted by Wakefield High’s Breanne Bygrave.
“It was a fun race,” said Brissett. “I had a good start. I was aggressive toward the hurdles and I finished strong. Every part of the race went well. It was my best race ever. I saw the record and it was a p.r. (personal record) so I was pretty confident I could get it.”
In the finals the next day, Brissett captured the gold medal with a time of 13.19 -- well ahead of silver medalist Kissimmee-Osceola’s Domonique Turner who ran 13.88.
“I’m looking to break 13.0 the next time I run the 100 hurdles,” said Brissett. “I don’t know when that will be because I’m taking a break from hurdles to focus on sprints.”
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The most exciting finish at the PTFCA Indoor State Championships was produced by Central Bucks East’s Jake Brophy in the 3,000-meter run. Brophy trailed by almost a half-lap heading into the final lap and then turned it on.
The veteran senior found another gear and steadily closed the gap between him and race leader Dominic Hockenbury from Lake Lehman High. Brophy sped past Hockenbury down the final stretch to cross first at 8:33.14. The Lake Lehman runner was second at 8:33.62.
“It was a rough race -- especially because I had to save a little for the DMR (distance medley relay),” said Brophy, who will attend the United States Naval Academy after he graduates from C.B. East.
“The other guy (Hockenbury) led for almost 14 laps. I made up ground in the last 400. If I didn’t have any more races to run that day, I would have hammered it more. It’s a super nice facility at Penn State and the track has hydraulic banking. I really enjoyed running there.”
At the state meet, Brophy also teamed with Dave Endress, Ata Shahida and Mark Mutter to place sixth in the distance medley relay. Brophy ran the 1,600 leg and posted a time of 4:26.
“The DMR was run just 45 minutes after I finished the 3,000,” said Brophy. “So, I was pretty spent. I didn’t go to indoor nationals because I wanted to focus on getting ready for the outdoor season.”
At last weekend’s Kiwanis Council Rock Kiwanis Invitational, Brophy finished first in the 3,000 with an 8:54.
“I ran with the pack for the first three laps,” he said. “After that, I was out there by myself.
“I also ran on the 4x800 with Dave Endress, Louis Kettleberger and Matt Eisenwood. We did pretty well -- 8:01. I split a 1:56 and I’m very happy with that -- especially since there was a short turnaround time from indoor to outdoor.”
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Pennsbury’s girls had an impressive showing at the PTFCA Indoor State Championships finishing third in the team standings and first in the distance medley relay.
The Falcons crossed first in the DMR at 12:14.37 with the foursome of Mary Webb (3:45, 1200), Maddie Sauer (1:01, 400), Lizzie Kirk (2:21, 800) and Olivia Sargent (5:06, 1600).
“I was very pleased with that race,” said Pennsbury coach Tim Cass. “We qualified for the Penn Relays with that time. Olivia had a great finish. She had to out-lean the (Friends Central) girl to win.”
After 4,000 meters of racing, Pennsbury edged Friends Central -- 12:14.37 to 12:14.40. Sargent and Webb also ran the mile with Sargent placing fourth at 5:01.11 and Webb sixth at 5:02.93.
Pennsbury’s top individual finisher at Indoor States was Dasia Pressley. The Falcons’ speedy senior was runner-up in the 200 at 24.55 and fourth-place finisher in the 60 at 7.538. She finished one place behind Pennridge’s Kouri Peace in both events.
“My 200 at States wasn’t a good race,” said Pressley, who has accepted a scholarship to run for Syracuse University. “And, the 60 is not necessarily my strong point. I need to work on things. I’m more of a 100 or 200 runner.
“States wasn’t one of my best meets this year. But, I made up for it at Nationals.”
At the New Balance National Indoor Championships in New York, Pressley finished eighth in her heat in the prelims with a clocking of 24.12. She came back to place seventh in the finals with a time of 24.28 -- just behind Dublin Coffin’s Abby Steiner at 24.15.
“I got close to sixth,” said Pressley. “I was really happy with Nationals. I had been there before but never made it to the finals. I got a p.r. in the trials at 24.12. I had lane six and that kind of helped me. I just ran my own race. I also made it to the semifinals in the 60 (ninth, 7.61).
“Nationals was a great way to end the indoor season. Running in the indoor season helps for the spring season. Now, I’m excited to run. I’m ready for outdoor track. Outdoor is always my best season -- especially because I have the state record in the 200 at 23.52. And, I was second in the 100 -- Chanel (Brissett) won it.”
Like the Cheltenham girls, Pressley -- and Brophy -- belong in the “Ichiban” category.
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